Bustelo Instant Expresso in case of emergency 
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If we are driving in the US/Canada, I imagine the trunk will be packed with Ninja Foodi/Ninja Coffee maker/Ninja Oven-Fryer and Vitamix. Whether we use them or not, these are the things that will not be in storage during our nomadic years. When traveling overseas, just my pillow, travel mug and probably some of my favorite tea bags.
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My Bodum Cafetierre and a big bag of Tesco Finest ground coffee. After smashing yet again another glass Bodum jar on a house sit in the summer I’ve now invested in a plastic one.
My favourite pillow.
Slippers.
Tea towels, a washing up bowl, J cloths. Paper towel roll.
My crochet
And twice the above ‘stuff’ in respect of my own dog, Brecon!!!
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@ltd. I had to Google “j cloths”. In the US they are “handi wipes.”
I agree with you on bringing coffee. That’s a must-have!!!
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OK I’ll bite. What’s a Washing Up Bowl? For dishes, or for washing your face and hands etc or ? And if any of these, why not just use the sink at the house?
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@Kelownagurl oh yeah, I don’t know that one either.
A plastic washing up bowl for dishes. Most modern houses today have a dishwasher but I refuse to use one as a) it uses an obscene amount of energy and water and b) for one person it’s wasteful and c) The instructions to use them are beyond me.
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@LTD Like @Kelownagurl asked, why not just use the sink?
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Yeah, I probably would use a dishwasher if I was alone either. But I normally just wash the dishes in my kitchen sink.
'll admit, I have noticed at least one housesit that had a plastic bowl of some sort sitting inside the sink and I assumed they washed their dishes in it but I’ve never understood the point. It doesn’t save on water because I can still regulate the amount of water I use in either a bowl or the sink, and I can fit larger items in the sink better than the bowl. What’s the main purpose?
PS Did you know that you actually use less water with a dishwasher, especially if it’s an “energy star”. I can put all the dishes I use over a day or two into the dishwasher and it uses less water than washing 3-4 sinks of dishes.
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I use a plastic bowl for multiple reasons -it is better for fragile items, I have a large sink that would use more water to totally immerse an item, and I can use the grey water in the bowl to easily water plants outside. I can also see benefits if the kitchen has just one sink and you want to be able to pour fluids down the sink while washing dishes.
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As I live in a small flat, keeping dirty dishes for up to 2 days accumulation in order to get best use of the dishwasher is unpalatable.
I’d never use the sink itself as I find them dirty. Plus lots of HOs have lost the plug!
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That makes sense, especially in certain areas. What kind of sink do you have? I noticed some sinks in the UK are made of stone or other hard materials so I can see breakage could be a problem. My sink is stainless steel so it’s not really an issue for me, and I have a double sink so handy for rinsing etc. That being said, I now use my dishwasher for most stuff and only hand wash heavily soiled or very large items.
@LTD That’s funny about the plug! I do disinfect my sink every day or two, or if I have raw meat juices in there or something. Cleaning my sink is part of doing the dishes here. I totally agree about not bothering with a dishwasher if you live alone. I use ours almost every day but then I do a lot of cooking and can easily fill it up with the two of us.
Tetley tea bags and our knife sharpener. Why is there so many households with dull knives? And I usually have some knitting on the go.
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We have also started bringing a knife sharpener after several dull-knived sits in a row. Now, of course, every kitchen has sharp knives…
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@Kelownagurl & @Rebecca_R I am laughing over the washing up bowl comment. Its a British thing, quite common in England.
I have only done local sits in driving distance, I’ve always had my car to throw things into & the longest sit so far is 1 week so short enough to get by.
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@Mslaura @Kelownagurl I love all the differences in our languages. It’s one of the things that makes visiting the UK so fun!!
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I have a stainless steel double sink at home. I live in the US but grew up in Ireland, so using a bowl in the sink is normal for me!
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I’m trying to imagine fitting a plastic bowl into my suitcase… 
I not only clean and disinfect my sink, I do the same to the washing up bowl every 2 or 3 days. In a hard water area this is essential.
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Actually you could. Then you could fit everything else eg socks, underwear etc in and around the bowl. For my last sit in August I bought a little pink bowl as my washing up bowl for UK sits.
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